The 50 best baseball players not in the Hall of Fame

[Deb]

The 50 best baseball players not in the Hall of Fame

Craig Calcaterra
Jan 3, 2013, 1:42 PM EST




For the third straight year friend of the blog Graham Womack has compiled a list of the 50 best baseball players not in the Hall of Fame. Well, he and 148 voters did it. And then scores of excellent baseball writers wrote blurbs about the should-be enshrinees.

The top vote-getter: Tim Raines. But really, there are a ton of worthy guys not in. More than a dozen who are on this year’s real Hall of Fame ballot and won’t be voted in, by the way.
As always, good stuff. Check it out.

[BLUE]

Piazza will get in, but he won't be a 1st ballot HOFer. When he does get in, hopefully it's as a Met.

"Last but certainly not least, I can't say goodbye without thanking the fans," Piazza said. "I can't recall a time in my career where I didn't feel embraced by all of you. Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and Miami -- whether it was at home or on the road, you were all so supportive over the years.

"But I have to say that my time with the Mets wouldn't have been the same without the greatest fans in the world. One of the hardest moments of my career, was walking off the field at Shea Stadium and saying goodbye. My relationship with you made my time in New York the happiest of my career and for that, I will always be grateful."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3405188

[Old Sweater]

It amazes me to no end, how Piazza continues to fly under the PED radar, the above article posted included.

http://www.baseballssteroidera.com/b...-baseball.html

http://thesteroidera.blogspot.com/20...legations.html

At least two former Major League players, one being Reggie Jefferson (another was not named), were quoted as saying they were sure that Piazza used steroids.

"He's a guy who did it, and everybody knows it," says Reggie Jefferson, the longtime major league first baseman. "It's amazing how all these names, like Roger Clemens, are brought up, yet Mike Piazza goes untouched."

"There was nothing more obvious than Mike on steroids," says another major league veteran who played against Piazza for years. "Everyone talked about it, everyone knew it. Guys on my team, guys on the Mets. A lot of us came up playing against Mike, so we knew what he looked like back in the day. Frankly, he sucked on the field. Just sucked. After his body changed, he was entirely different. 'Power from nowhere,' we called it."

When asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, to grade the odds that Piazza had used performance enhancers, the player doesn't pause.

"A 12," he says. "Maybe a 13."